topic Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

recoveringfrombk7 — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 14:27:11 GMT

I am approaching my 1 year anniversary and have not yet graduated. I wanted to share my rebuild status/data points to see if anyone can point out something obvious I've missed that I should be doing, or if it just a matter of continuing to wait. Thank you! I will continue to update this post until I graduate or give up.

Filed Bankruptcy Ch7 - 7/2018

Discharged 10/2018

Opened Discover IT with $500 12/2018

Note: I did not find these forums until around 8/2019, so my util and inquiries were at times higher than they would have been because I was figuring things out on my own.

Statement Date: 1/2019, Balance $0, Limit $500, Amount Used $418.90, Discover TU 586

Statement Date: 2/2019, Balance $300.55, Limit $500, Amount Used $1044.78, Discover TU 622

Statement Date: 3/2019, Balance $472.82, Limit $1000, Amount Used $1002.54, Discover TU 581

Statement Date: 4/2019, Balance $726.41, Limit $1000, Amount Used $1262.20, Discover TU 599

Statement Date: 5/2019, Balance $152.63, Limit $1500, Amount Used $1264.04, Discover TU 613

Statement Date: 6/2019, Balance $189.22, Limit $1500, Amount Used $1525.49, Discover TU 629

Statement Date: 7/2019, Balance $419.97, Limit $2000, Amount Used $1691.25, Discover TU 644

Statement Date: 8/2019, Balance $617.74, Limit $2000, Amount Used $1757.01, Discover TU 655 *

Statement Date: 9/2019, Balance $279.66, Limit $2000, Amount Used $2384.59, Discover TU 658

Statement Date: 10/2019, Balance $95.84, Limit $2000, Amount Used $2570.97, Discover TU 676

Statement Date: 11/2019, Balance $0, Limit $2000, Amount Used $1207.72, Discover TU 673

*I see a soft pull on my annual TU report 7/29/19, so clearly I failed initial graduation

I have never been late. I have never gone over the limit. I pay whatever my balance is every 2 weeks when I get paid. I use the card for all daily expenses. Once I found these forums and realized how important util was I made a conscious effort to get the balance as low as possible prior to my statement date (4th).

I burned a lot of folks in my bankruptcy, but currently have the following accounts besides the Discover card all current, never late, never over:

Capital One Secured - $49 dep/$200 limit

Merrick Bank - $1100 (set to double next month)

Target - $2000

Ollo - Initial $2000, recent CLI to $2200

DSRM/Valero Gas - Initial $300, recent CLI to $500

Credit One - $1000 set to cancel when Merrick doubles up to dodge the annual fee

I am an auth user on my husbands accounts to help with Age:

Capital One - 10k limit, 25 years old

Citibank - 5k limit, 3 years old

I have significant student loan debt:

Federal - ~175k, but I qualify and am on track for public service loan forgiveness. I have never missed a payment, but obviously it hurts my debt to income since creditors can't see that I only pay 489/mo and it will disappear in a little over 8 years

Private - Initially 55k, now 36k, paying this off aggressively ahead of schedule. Never missed a payment, never late.

My plan is to give the Discover until June of next year. I am planning to buy a car end of next year (Cap one prequal currently has me at 3-4% APR which if accurate is very awesome), and I will want the security deposit as part of my down payment. In the meantime I will add $500 more to the security deposit next paycheck because I am using it all the time and the rewards are the best out of all of my cards. If it does not graduate by June, my TU inquiries will be back at 1 and I'm going to see if I can prequal through their site for an unsecured card. I've seen other threads where folks never graduated but were able to get a new card. Not ideal from an age perspective, but what can I do?

3 Bureau Experian on 11/6/2019: EQ is 713 / EXP is 708 / TU is 679. I'm currently at 1% overall util. My annual income is ~100k.

My TU score is lagging the other two bureaus. The most recent late payments for EQ and EXP are 1 yr 4 months, but for TU is 1 year.

Any advice/thoughts are greatly appreciated. If there are additional data that could be helpful, please ask and I will track it down. Reading through everything here has been a big help. Thanks

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

tparks5961 — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 14:47:07 GMT

Hello and welcome to the forums,

Holding on to the discover secured card and waiting for it to graduate was very frustrating. I actually got to the point where I gave up on it but I knew it would eventually happen and since it was the oldest card in my rebuild, I wasn't about to close it.

It took 33 months for my card to eventually graduate. Like you, I found the forums late so carried a balance @ near 100 %. I eventually started to PIF each month as my scores recovered and once I made it to around 670 and maintained that score for about 3 months, it graduated. Ymmv, but understand in the end it'll be worth holding on to.. I used to get mad, call them and complain... but I eventually realized discover didnt put me in my position, I put myself there. I would just have to wait it out.

It's a good company and worth sticking it out. Just understand that it may take some time. Don't expect anything anytime soon. Take care of the account and your others and when it happens it happens.

Good luck!

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 15:03:24 GMT

Once you got the secured card from Disco. How many more accounts did you get afterwards? Miss Disco is a jealous one. They SP like crazy to see if your cheating on her. No matter how long it takes. Its worth it in the end. Plus the thank you CLI after graduation. And then in a year you can qualify for a second card like the real deal iT card.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

recoveringfrombk7 — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 15:19:28 GMT

That would explain it.

All of my other cards were after my Disco (12/2018):

Ollo 4/2019

Merrick 5/2019

Credit One 6/2019

Target 8/2019

Capital One 8/2019

I did not realize I could do a proper rebuild with fewer cards until after I found these forums. I figured this might be the issue. I'm hoping that by June Miss Disco gets over it or lets me prequal unsecured. Thanks very much for the feedback! I really feel like in terms of managing what I have I'm doing things right, 2 out of 3 over 700 13 months post discharge ain't bad. I realize it's going to take time. The issue is freeing up the deposit money and having it back in my hand by Dec 2020, so I'm willing to be patient, but I also need to keep my deadline in mind.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 15:25:54 GMT

Its not a science but there has been reports she'll hold out until you become faithful. If your following AZEO. Only let missy report a small balance and then PIF before the due date. But you've done rather well on your rebuild. Congrats. We all want it yesterday. Patience is our best friend. Before you know it. It will happen. Good Luck!

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

recoveringfrombk7 — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 16:02:41 GMT

I am actually not following AZEO at present. I just keep all of my cards below 10%, usually 5% or 0. I have subscriptions on all of them so that the card issuers see responsible use.

Ollo - Pays my EZPass, usually statement cuts with $30 balance / $2200 limit

Merrick - Pays a 15.98/mo subscription, so statement cuts with $15.98 balance / $1100 limit

Capital One - Pays 11/mo subscription, but only $200 limit, so statement cuts with $5 / $200 limit

Valero Card - I get gas on this and PIF, at most the statement cuts with < $30 / $500 limit

Target Card - I use this to shop at Target (5% discount), I PIF each pay check and make sure that on statement cuts it has < $180 / $2000

Would I be better off putting everything onto the Discover card?

I am still trying to better understand AZEO vs. just keeping by card and overall util low (my attempts to search this as a topic have not yielded an informative result). In general, excluding my husband's cards that I'm auth user on, I tend to be at about 3-6% total util and never over 9% on any one card. As you can see in the OP, with Discover I was higher a few times, especially in the beginning, but my more recent activity follows this trend. Will AZEO make that big of a difference? Thanks for your help.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 18:17:21 GMT

My 12th statement generated last week and I also have not yet graduated. I've always used it often and PIF. The last 3 statements I've made sure it reports $0. My other cards also report $0 except I allow 1 to report a small balance. I thought that might help it but Discover still doesn't like me.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

designated_knitter — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 21:03:42 GMT

@ FireMedic

I didn't realize the little missy was so jealous! I *too* have cheated on her since I had to replace the tradelines that were closed by Cap1.

What does she define as being "faithful" after you have already cheated on her? Do we have to go to couples counseling or something? How long before I can look at another card again with lust in my heart?!

(a bit tongue in cheek but serious question since I really want to make her happy in the long run.... )

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

Twitchrdrm — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 02:04:32 GMT

Hey OP I was fortunate that my Disco just graduated, however, my scores are lower than yours are so i can only assume it has to do w/ something other than your scores. It sounds like you're using it responsibly so I'm sure they'll get you graduated sooner rather than later. Best of luck!

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

Brian_Earl_Spilner — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 02:14:20 GMT

Took 23 months, had stopped using it for a few months and was carrying a 50% utilization. My increase was $250 and I haven't prequaled for a new card yet and it's been a while.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 08:19:11 GMT

@recoveringfrombk7 I hope you PIF each card and leave 1 card with a <8.9% balance to report each month. Now. Your AU on other cards and the question is what is the util % reporting on those cards because it affects your scores. If its high. Get off the accounts. You can do it on your own. You'll want to PIF Missy each month. Let one of your other cards report as the AZEO card. Never have more than 50% of your total cards report a balance as a rule of rebuilding. Thats a ding to your scores. Follow AZEO for a while and she if she'll quit playing hard to get.

Many here disagree with me on AZEO. I've been doing it for over 4 yrs and it hasnt hurt me one bit. As rebuilders we're showing that we can rack up charges but we pay our bills on time. Plus you dont want to pay interest. I have not paid 1 cent in interest. Hey banks pay me to use your card. I'm not paying you to use them. Then, Why have a cash back card and you lose your profit from the cash back by paying interest? Its a friggin numbers game. Jusy play it right!

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 08:27:14 GMT

@designated_knitter wrote:
@ FireMedic

I didn't realize the little missy was so jealous! I *too* have cheated on her since I had to replace the tradelines that were closed by Cap1.

What does she define as being "faithful" after you have already cheated on her? Do we have to go to couples counseling or something? How long before I can look at another card again with lust in my heart?!

(a bit tongue in cheek but serious question since I really want to make her happy in the long run.... )

@designated_knitter Out of the cards you have. Let Missy see that you have higher usage than your other cards. Disco SP's your reports like spying on you to see how your treating them. I started with a $1200 1st card. Three and a half yrs later total was $18,000 on 2 Disco's. Just closed the first iT as a Chrome convert and now have the $15,000 2cd card with a 13.4% APR that started at $7000 if I remember correctly. Just like above. Play the game. She'll give in if you treat her right.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

designated_knitter — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 16:44:12 GMT

Thanks @FireMedic1!

you always give such sound and comforting and judgment-free feedback! I really appreciate your contributions!

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

recoveringfrombk7 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 18:59:57 GMT

Clearly I've been doing it wrong.

As for as the AU cards, one reports 5$ (out of 9500) and the other is $0.

As for mine, I've been keeping them below 6% and letting them all report a balance. No interest, previous statement is always paid. I use the disco for virtually everything. Sometimes it reports a balance if I happen to use between the due date and the statement cut. Again, we are talking < $100/2000.

I'll reorganize to do what you suggested. Thank you for your patience and advice.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 19:13:04 GMT

@designated_knitter wrote:
Thanks @FireMedic1!

you always give such sound and comforting and judgment-free feedback! I really appreciate your contributions!

Thanks! Just lending a helping hand.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 19:19:01 GMT

@recoveringfrombk7 wrote:
Clearly I've been doing it wrong.

As for as the AU cards, one reports 5$ (out of 9500) and the other is $0.

As for mine, I've been keeping them below 6% and letting them all report a balance. No interest, previous statement is always paid. I use the disco for virtually everything. Sometimes it reports a balance if I happen to use between the due date and the statement cut. Again, we are talking < $100/2000.

I'll reorganize to do what you suggested. Thank you for your patience and advice.

Pfft. No problem. I wont say my age. But AARP was knocking. I didnt know nothing about FICO my whole life until after BK. I was always approved. I cut up all my cards and swore them off in 2000 or so. But now you have to have credit. And if my lawyer didnt tell me about getting credit after BK and this place in 2015. I still wouldnt have known. So I'm still learning to this day. I pass on what I've learned here and what I've done to have credit again. My pleasure to help. Just like others that helped when I joined. I just pay it forward.

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

recoveringfrombk7 — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 22:10:12 GMT

@FireMedic1

I have switched over to AZEO this month. My Cap One Secured card will report $5 and everyone else will be $0, including Discover.

Silly question ... My statement date is the 4th (tomorrow) and I usually go food shopping on Wednesdays. Discover is my best rewards card, but if I use it tomorrow midday will it clear in time to be on my statement? If so, should I use a different card? We're not talking a lot of rewards, so if I need to use another card it's not a big deal. I just want to understand/do this right. My scores have already gone up a few points now that fewer cards are reporting balances (which still blows my mind given none of the individual cards were over 5% and total util was 1%, but hey I'll take it!).

Maybe this will be my lucky month for graduating

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:49:54 GMT

You'll be fine. If you get something on the statement date. It wont post that fast. Usually takes a day or 2. Grab a rack of ribs while your there. Ha!

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

recoveringfrombk7 — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 02:31:21 GMT

Great, thanks! Fingers crossed that discover shows some love this month!

Re: Discovered IT Not Graduating - Data Points/Advice?

FireMedic1 — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 09:19:07 GMT

#FingersCrossed #HolidayPresent